John Gibson
Rom
Brevet har været forseglet.
John Crouchley
Liverpool
Udskrift: J.B. Crouchley Esq:r / Bedford Place / Harrigton / Liverpool / Rome Nov.r 20.th
Poststemplet: ”[XX]PO / 15 / 1819” og “C[X]E / C 15 / 1819”.
Dateringen fremgår af brevet.
Kommentarerne til dette brev er under udarbejdelse.
Rome
19th Novem:r 1819
[...] Thorwalsden has gone to visit his own native country, aft[er] an absence of twenty three years. When the Duke of DevonshireI was here he gave Thorvaldsen an order for a Venus. She is represented as just having received the golden apple from Paris and taking up her mantle to go away thus [her har Gibson skitseret Thorvaldsens Venus, jf. A12]
This great artist has made a group of the three graces to rival those of Canova. The composition I like, at the same time perhaps the figures are too much apart, too much open space between them as for the forms they bear no comparison to Canova’s. Thorwal.n has a pupil an Italian his name is Tenerani and has made a Venus which I think would do honour to Praxiteles. Cupid is drawing the thorn out of her foot thus [Gibson har skitseret Teneranis skulpturII]
The forms are divine, after seeing it in clay nearly finished, I felt a sinking at the heart and depression of mind for several days. [...]
Af brevet citeres kun de dele, som vedrører/omhandler Thorvaldsen. Brevet er afskrevet og venligt stillet til rådighed af Eric Forster. Det er her gengivet i overensstemmelse med originalbrevet.
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Venus med æblet, 1813 - maj 1816, inv.nr. A12 |
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Gratierne og Amor, april 1819, inv.nr. A29 |
Sidst opdateret 21.07.2014
Den engelske hertug William Devonshire.
Et marmor eksemplar af Teneranis skulptur fra 1825 findes i The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth, antagelig erhvervet af William Devonshire, 6. hertug af Devonshire, som også omtales i brevet her.